Kevin de Bruyne’s prominence as a member of Belgium’s “Golden Generation” and the consistent excellence he provides at the highest level were reinforced once more on a wonderful, colorful night in Cologne.
Belgium bears scars from past international tournaments in which they fell short of the expectations set by the world-class talent at their disposal, most notably failing to advance to the final round of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
And the old charges were brought up again when they were defeated in their first Euro 2024 group game against Slovakia, ranked 45th in the world.
After that shocking defeat, Belgium knew a win over Romania was crucial, and the tournament’s structure has taken some of the uncertainty out of the group stage.
In this context, under intense pressure, De Bruyne produced a masterpiece that was rightfully crowned with the goal that sealed a 2-0 victory and launched Belgium’s campaign.
When the Manchester City midfielder emerged to warm up, the throngs of red-clad Belgium supporters surged around him, highlighting the burden that De Bruyne held. He was needed that particular night.
If Youri Tielemans settled early nerves by driving low past Romania keeper Florin Nita after 73 seconds, it was 32-year-old De Bruyne who ensured Belgium were dominant throughout.
The stadium was awash with colour and rocking to deafening noise well before kick-off – and a game befitting the magnificent atmosphere unfolded.
Cologne was decorated in red and yellow all day, a message on the big screens from the great “Maradona of the Carpathians” Gheorghe Hagi shown on the big screens before kick-off taking the massed ranks of Romania fans to boiling point.
The match was wild, open, fiercely contested and with De Bruyne rising above all others.
The space afforded by the nature of the game gave Belgium’s playmaker room to operate. It was an opportunity he was not going to pass up.
De Bruyne set the tone with one slaloming first-half run that left Romanian players trailing in his wake and Dodi Lukebakio just unable to take advantage.
If the action was frantic, De Bruyne had the quality and composure to make it look like he had more time on the ball than anyone else – particularly in a devastating second half.
He brought a fine save from Nita, flashed a cross into the six-yard area, then delivered a sumptuous pass of imagination and vision, cutting the Romania defence apart for Romelu Lukaku to apply a composed finish.
Given Lukaku’s luck at Euro 2024 thus far, it seemed inevitable that the Video Assistant Referee would rule that the striker was just a hair offside, and the tenacious forward would continue to search for his first goal of the competition.
No matter for De Bruyne.
With 11 minutes remaining, he defied the Romanian defense and poked a finish past Nita, proving that his performance was worthy of the goal.